John Davies, 77; Audio Engineer Known for Restoring Jazz Records

John Davies, 77, an audio engineer known for his prowess in restoring old jazz records, died May 25 of cancer at his home in Burnham, England.

Davies played trombone, saxophone and other instruments in traditional jazz bands and developed a deep appreciation for early jazz. His most successful band was the Temperance Seven, whose records of the early 1960s were produced by George Martin, the noted producer for the Beatles.

An avid record collector, Davies developed several techniques to repair the clicks, pops and scratches of 78-rpm records made from the 1920s to the 1950s by such jazz legends as Louis Armstrong, Fats Waller, Cab Calloway and Bessie Smith. Davies sought to overcome pitch problems and other woes caused by the poor recording equipment used when the original records were cut.

Because Davies’ meticulous work took some time, he remastered records primarily for small specialty record labels, most of them in Canada, Britain and the Netherlands.